The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Old Gray Lady Descends From Above To Lend Patrician Perspective On Shootings

There, there. It's gonna be all right. Poppa Sulzberger's got it all under control.

By the way, that line about Crips and Bloods wearing blue and red bandanas is misleading, and lifted from, I dunno, a documentary streamed on Netflix or something. Yes, occasionally you see bandanas in pockets, but the colors things is an overused topic of conversation, just ask the experts. The gang guys even switch back and forth these days, and they may call themselves part of a big scary gang but only be a half dozen guys living on a block and acting out a fantasy. Would be nice though if the bad guys DID wear uniforms, wouldn't it?

A commenter has posted on a previous post about the NY Times article, and a commenter on the gangs colors thing. So I'm just going to add:

It gets to my much repeated point that it doesn't much matter after you've been arrested a dozen times what you wear. The cops know you, they know your history. You're basically just trying not to get caught, simple as that. Being in the gang is not a crime. We do have a Constitution after all. You have to actually commit a crime to go to jail. And selling weed and even small amounts of narcotics doesn't usually put you away very long. A plea of guilty gets you even less. The question is...what happens when a kid gets tired of the street life and wants to change? What's available then? And take eight steps back. What happens when a kid is presented with a choice to join the street life or not? Is someone there to offer an alternative? That's really what we're talking about. Right, Duane? Didn't you say the Council for Unity saved you from just such a fate? I'm looking forward to telling your story on the blog. It's so deeply important.

Down my way, the guys have taken to wearing varsity jackets. It's a funny look. One guy also started wearing these very studious looking glasses. The combination with his jeans hanging to mid-thigh is a real head-twister.

Before folks get too riled up about the Times making distinctions between the leafy blocks of the Manor and more hardscrabble blocks around it, I think it's important to remember that it was the perspective of the writers and a couple interviewees, not the neighborhood at large. We all share the same streets, shops, train stations on a daily basis. If you happen to live on a quiet block, that doesn't mean that the dynamics of the larger neighborhood are not important to you, nor does it mean that violence or drugs don't spill out over borders. And it's still a choice - you can ignore all of this if you want, and that's fine. I really mean it. I don't think any of you reading this are particularly unsafe, and if reading this stuff freaks you out too much then limit your intake. I have to do that with politics - better for my health!

The crime that's happened lately is either a) random and anomalous or b) part of a troubling trend. You get different perspectives depending on who you ask. Some like to look at the 25 year slide in crime and shrug their shoulders. That was me, til recently. Two years ago, I identified what I chose to call answer B - troubling trend, and have been working under that assumption ever since. If you agree, let's start being more proactive about neighborhood watches, demanding appropriate attention and services, working with all available outlets (CB9 and CB14, precincts 71 and 70 and 67, PLGNA, block associations, C.O.P. program and most recently - the D.A.'s office). If each of us just took one small chunk and started doing that bit on a regular basis it would add up.

I think Eric Adams' idea of block captains is starting to sound pretty good right about now. A database of people - two on each block - who meet once a month to discuss trends on their block, with presence by the precincts and district attorney, and maybe even social service groups. You have two people on each block so one can make it if the other is busy that night.

35 comments:

Anonymous
said...

You want to see gang colors stop by Fenimore and Nostrand. When even the times can identify this as a bloods corner you would think these kids might want to stop dressing in red track suits with red baseball hats every day.

After the comments here, the article was pretty amusing. I think someone at the Times may have an interest in local property values. I don't think a more positive article about shooting in the hood could be written if we hired our own PR folks.

This is actually a pretty decent article about the neighborhood. I'm stunned that they made us out to be this little bohemian laid back group that takes everything with a grain of salt and just loves our little hood. They made it sound very boutique.

Glad to have TotT, Tugboat, and Jus Fishy get some mention in a larger space. I'm a bit shocked that this article happened, actually.

Back in the '90s, you never saw stories about Park Slope in the Times. Little by little, that changed, because the reporters started living there. This may be the shot heard round the world for PLG. Pun not intended.

I guess I am the grumpy person who found the whole article to be rather dreadful. "Hey this crime didn't take place in our neighborhood, but it's ok 'cause we don't stress over that kind of stuff anyway." (???)

Turk - you should really talk to Milford Prewitt, editor of the Lefferts Manor Echo. He's the guy quoted in the article. He's very much interested in hearing all sides of the equations, though I suspect you might not always agree on things.

And if you ever want to talk more, you can find my email here. If you prefer to be anon, I won't reveal your identity on the blog. But you have a perspective I'd like to engage, particularly as we head into City-wide political season.

Yep. And everyone jumped down my throat when I said they're going to have a heckuva time making ends meet with a 3,000 seat theater in the middle of Flatbush. But the developers will have cashed their checks by then...

Actually, you do have to commit a crime or be a material part of the running of a crime ring. Being a guy who happens to say he's a member of a gang does not put you in prison. That's what most of these guys on the street are.

More to the point, the gang guy at the district's attorney will tell you that RICO is not how you break up street gangs, which if you bothered to read the thread is what we're talking about.

Television has done a number on you, my old arch-nemesis.

The gangs are generally protected by law, until they break the law. So there.

The theater was basically given away by the Bloomberg administration. The city is paying for almost the entire renovation and lending the developers the rest. And then the developers are being given complete ownership of the facility for their trouble.

The risk is entirely on the taxpayers if there is not a sufficient demand for the space.

Most people have applauded the restoration of the theater however it was a complete raw deal for the community. Almost identical projects have succeeded in Chicago and in other cities, while retaining ownership for the people.

Yes Q, Babs is correct, bloods are definitely wearing red and crips are in blue. From my perspective the explosion of these two gangs in recent years in brooklyn is a huge factor in gun violence in flatbush, crown heights, etc. Years ago there were more local NY gangs, and Latin Kings. Bloods and crips was more of a west coast thing, and seemed to be made up of older guys who had been in prison. In say the last 5 - 10 years it seems to be that a lot of really young kids are into the bloods and crips thing and they seem to be the most trigger happy.

Not that it matters because they do switch it up, and I don't know much about the gang organization in our neighborhood. But traditionally, Bloods wear red and Crips wear blue, not the other way around, as you stated.

But anyway, in our neighborhood there are so many kids running around wearing red it's not that helpful to look out for red sneakers and hats. It's more important to pay attention to demeanor and activity.

sorry. my joke landed like a lead balloon. the bluebloods in westchester are the ones I'm worried about.

thanks for that last person's reminder that looking for colors is preposterous. I really hope that people aren't seriously considering spending their time trying to figure out whether it's crips or bloods on their street. the fear that's out there now will only intensify. please, let's have some perspective!

Plus, before rattling off info about who is doing the shooting and why, please consider finding out whether the recent shootings have all been gang related? I think you'll find that they are not.

I would hate to think that this blog would start an epidemic of misinformed rumor. Don't get me wrong, there are kids in gangs all right. But now people are starting to write comments that sound hysterical.

I think it's time that I speak to a gang specialist and write a blog post on that. I'm super busy til after the 18th or so, but let's get someone in who knows what they're talking about. Or if someone has a link to some truly researched piece on NYC gang culture, please leave it here.

At least the rusted toilet bowl fills 15,000 seats on a regular basis, then flushes them out through a fairly efficient sewer/train network.

I just can't imagine how you can program, as the propaganda told us, 3000 seats 200+ nights a year in the middle of nowhere. Yes, of course, it's a wonderful neighborhood, but as an arts manager I have serious doubts about the potential. Ask the Brooklyn Performing Arts Center at Brooklyn College how easy it is to program their space...and they do maybe 40 events a year or so?

I work on rikers. Bloods are red. Crips are rarer, but yes they wear blue. Bloods also wear the red bandana or beads. And sometimes have a tattoo or cigarette burn of 3 dots, sort of like a paw. There are many sects within the bloods in nyc, and often vies for status within and between bloods lead to shootings (or slashing while at rikers, across the cheek or the back.) none of this is particularly humorous to me these days.

This is 4:55. The District Attorneys, police, and corrections people in NYC just had their annual gang conference a few weeks ago. When you meet, you guys should ask the DA for the paperback book that got distributed there, it is full of illustrations of various things, code phrasing, graffiti tags, etc. I am NOT the person to talk on the subject, but there are people in NYPD and DOC Gang Intelligence units who apparently know a lot. I can vouch for the fact there were an enormous and horrifying number of slashings last summer at Rikers, and I think that sweeping people off the street and to Rikers does little good to combat this. The inside is connected to the outside. And etc. I have no idea what the answer is, and I basically think about it all day. It is depressing.

I moved to the neighborhood two years ago and am sad to say I have only recently gotten into reading this blog on a regular basis. I find it informative and generally a great source for multi-faceted issues.

JDB said it - I, too, was surprised by the way the neighborhood was painted in the Times, and I'm not sure if in a good way or bad way.

I think you officially have a new recruit for neighborhood activism, so thank you, and keep posting - I love reading!

I agree JDB and anon at 9:53. I don't see the NYT article as flattering. I don't like being portrayed as uncaring. Saying Lenox is outside our neighborhood is like saying 2nd street in Park Slope is outside those on Berkeley Place's neighborhood, come on. And there absolutely have been shootings on Manor blocks. Not all shootings result in people being hit, thank God. As a Manor homeowner I don't want to be portrayed as somebody who thinks of those outside Manor blocks as separate and alien and not of my concern.

Anyway, NYC gang culture today is a mixed bag, compared to what it was during 80's or 90's. Today, it's all about forming smaller sects. Not some much emphasis on colors, although it does matter with certain gangs. These guys, like every other gang, are fighting over territory, money owed or what someone said on facebook. Some of them are violent while others are not. Bloods and Crips are so 90's.

As for the recent shootings, I don't what the hell is going on. Anomaly, maybe. We'll see as summer approaches and how cops handle certain troubled hot spots. They known who the troublemakers are.